Many of us said as we walked by the conference rooms where they were interviewing that we felt the impulse to run in and let the candidate know to consider their other choices. As it is, new employees regularly start looking elsewhere shortly after they are trained. The expectations are completely unreal. They want you to take call after call, and tell you to do your paperwork "in between calls". There isn't any in between - especially from customers who are regularly screaming about the service or mistakes on their policies. Your choices are either to do your legally required paperwork in between calls or more realistically, during breaks and after or before work. A LOT just "gets buried" - the overworked agent either forgot or never knew. Once initially trained, there is no update training inspite of having classrooms with thousand dollars worth of equipment, unless you think an email training. For that matter, try getting the email - you may have been dropped from the list! The latest I heard was that new employees cannot take vacation for the first year - any vacation time will be assigned one day here or there by the company. Is that even legal? And these poor people don't even get two days off in a row - and are expected to work every Saturday with little to no chance of ever getting off. Don't think you will get any sympathy if you have a sick child, pending surgery, medical condition, school appointment, or three feet of snow. Your expected to be there every day, and stay later if required. In the three years I was there my health was deteriorating, as your never allowed out of that seat except your assigned break or lunch (which you may find yourself still doing paperwork). Computing system is a nightmare. There is no way to look up information on line - you have to rely on word of mouth, what you may have written on some sheet, training materials which do not cover everything, and trying to chase down a supervisor. Customers get three bills, varying amounts, no bill, or confusing letters or statements. The CEO from 3 years ago is still the signature on letters going out. Supervisors vary in quality - some are good, some should not be supervisors as their MO is to avoid answering your questions (but remind you to take calls faster). Bonuses were done away with for call agents last year so not sure if that changed. They demand you meet a certain level of "cross sales", leads to getting the customer another policy - but they have not grown the infrastructure right nor are you compensated much. Many call takers were using tactics to make their sales look higher - the "push the caller to the sales side", or "keep talking until they beg to listen so they can get off the call" were a few of the techniques. This is critical if you want a reasonable schedule and a vacation. Vacation? You need to "bid" for your vacation, so plan ahead in November, and if you don't get the bid, you are out of luck. Seriously. Not even "would you take a different week". And again, if you didn't get the email, you will wait another year. This does cause a problem when people are over the limit with vacation - they may be forced to take time off at the Company's choice -or get paid. You bid for your schedule every year too so if you have a small child - seriously reconsider this as this change happens in January. New hire pay has dropped drastically in the past three years, yet work increased tremendously - supporting two states before, now six states when I left. In the three years I worked, 44 people left out of approximately 70 in the last two. They used to be selective about new hires being licensed or meeting standards when trained. Now, any warm body with clothing on willing to take the chance is welcome. Dress has gone from business casual to ghetto. Site managment is weak and non-existent. Finally, the most chilling was the "disappearances" of employees. Some people may have deserved to be let go, but there are those who were let go for trumped up charges, usually attendance (only allowed 5 occurances for a year and that includes calling out sick). Oddly enough, if you are favored, you get to stay, no matter what your work performance is or what problems you caused. It does appear that if you are on the west coast, treatment may be better, if you are on the east coast, you really are low life stepchild. There was a program to volunteer on the outside for a good cause, but if you had a job with no backup, you could never participate. This place sounds great until you get inside. I've never ever written a review like this one, and hope I never do again.
